No. 16 Kansas rolls by Iowa State, 4-0
DES MOINES, Iowa – The No. 16-ranked Kansas women’s team played an all-around dominate match to down Iowa State, 4-0, Friday at Life Time Fitness in Des Moines, Iowa, to earn its third-straight victory and eighth out of the last nine.
Starting strong in doubles, Janet Koch and Amber Policare were all business against Annabella Bonadonna and Erin Freeman, blanking the Cyclone duo, 6-0, on court two for the Jayhawks’ first doubles win.
At the No. 3 spot, Despoina Vogasari and Maria Toran Ribes claimed the doubles point for Kansas with a, 6-2, defeat of Margarita Timakova and Ekaterina Repina.
“The team did a great job of coming out and taking care of business (Friday) in singles and doubles,” said head coach Todd Chapman. “We will be ready for West Virginia and prepared for their best shot.”
In singles, No. 116 Nina Khmelnitckaia and Freeman began their match by winning a game each at the No. 3 position. Khmelnitckaia then claimed the five remaining points to take the first set, 6-1. Playing an identical second set, Khmelnitckaia was the first to finish and put the Jayhawks up, 2-0, with her 6-1, 6-1 match win.
Toran Ribes allowed Repina only one point in the first set to come out on top, 6-1, on court four. Carrying that momentum into the second set, Toran Ribes won her match, 6-1, 6-2, to extend the Kansas lead to 3-0.
At the No. 2 position, Koch was able to fend off Regina Espindola’s first-set rally to edge the Cyclone for a, 6-3, victory. With her team up, 3-0, Koch got the job done with her 6-3, 6-2 win to clinch the overall match for KU, 4-0.
Facing Bonadonna in singles, Policare cruised through her first set for a, 6-0, win at the No. 6 spot. She was on her way to winning the second set with the score at 5-3 before the match was claimed on court two.
No. 66 Vogasari came back from being down, 4-1, to Maty Cancini at the No. 1 position to win her first set, 7-6 (7-2). Vogasari had a 1-0 lead in the second set before play was stopped due to the match being finished.
Tatiana Nikolaeva was not able to overcome Timakova on court five, falling in the first set, 7-6 (7-3). Because the match had been clinched, they did not start a second set.
No. 83 Khmelnitckaia and Nikolaeva went down, 3-1, early opposite of Cancini and Espindola at the No. 1 position. The KU pair then won three-straight games to take a 4-3 lead before the match was stopped due to the doubles point being clinched.
Next, the Jayhawks will travel to Morgantown, West Virginia where they will face West Virginia at 11 a.m., CT Sunday.
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